Hanako ‘in good hands’
As public sympathy pours in for Hanako, the 68-year-old elephant kept in a Tokyo zoo, Japanese volunteer and internet toy business owner Akihiro Tomikawa is urging sympathisers to look at the other side of the story.
Mr Tomikawa, better known on the internet as Koki Aki, is giving moral support to zoo officials who he says have taken good care of the female elephant.
Hanako was presented to Japan in 1949. She was two years-old at the time.
A Facebook user, Apple, posted a story about Hanako on her Facebook, and said she thought the elephant must be lonely.
She claimed the elephant still “remembered the Thai language”. Her post went viral while animal activists launched a campaign to help Hanako.
On his Facebook message, Mr Tomakawa said he met Inoue, head of the zoo keepers at Inokashira Park Zoo, where she is kept.
“I asked him about her food, and he said the zoo prepared special food for her,” said Mr Tomakawa, adding Hanako now has only one tooth left.
“Carrots are boiled soft and they peel the bananas before giving them to her,’’ he said.
Mr Tomakawa said the zoo changes her food often to suit her appetite. They give her many kinds of food for her to try.
“They have given her canned peach, and yomeishu, a kind of sweet liquor, but it seems she grew bored with that. Now they prepare bread, rice, rice balls, and black sugar, as well as many other things they think she may like,” he said.
The zoo has two vets to attend to her health needs. If she fails to get better, they call another team from a university. “They cherish Hanako,” Mr Tomakawa said.
He appealed to net users to show their understanding to zoo officials.
“Please consider that the average life span of an elephant is around 50-60 years but Hanako is now 68. Why? Because she gets so much love from zoo officials,” he said.
Critics say the elephant lives in a “concrete cell’’, but Mr Tomakawa said he has no idea what they mean.
“Some elephants may not be ready for a herd, some may love humans as if they are their family members.”
Some have demanded the elephant be released into the wild, but “changing her habitat, or freeing her to the wild, may cause her to die from stress”, said Mr Tomakawa.
He said when he asked if Hanako should be freed, Mr Inoue did not answer directly. The zoo official merely replied: “We have expected that.” He smiled, but with sadness in his eyes.
“I know how they feel about the ‘concrete jail’ claims raised by the media,” said Mr Tomankawa.
He said he likes elephants, and has seen them in many places. But none are like Hanako.
Many netizens have left comments about Hanako on the drama-addict website this week.
One user, Kritsada, said he heard that when elephants have no teeth, they die because they cannot eat. Yet Hanako is still alive and well.
“That shows how well her keepers care for her. She left Thailand when she was two and now she’s nearly 70. We’d better think about her bonds with her Japanese keepers.”
Another user, Bunkee, said: “Don’t be a hypocrite. Before demanding that she come back, you should take good care of the elephants still in Thailand.
“Some mahouts take their elephants to beg on the street, selling sugar cane and bananas. Some are hit by cars, are killed for their ivory. They are tortured in entertainment places. Look at the facts.”